Colgate College

Sometimes a building or a scene will grab my attention and I have to pull my car over and get out my camera.  I was shooting in Upstate New York recently and ended up driving through the campus of Colgate College.  There were two identical arched metal buildings that caught my eye.  They are part of the athletics department.  The the bright greens of the grass and fall colors of the leaves looked great against the cool grey of the corrugated metal.

Maine Seaside

Here is a beautifully stormy/overcast autumn day on the seaside of Maine.

Logging in Oregon

I'd never seen the modern machinery of logging up close before.  While driving through Oregon en route to my hometown on the Washington/Idaho border, I passed an area that was being clear cut.  The trees had already been felled.  The machine that would pick up the trees, strip it of all it's bark and small branches and cut it into manageable pieces was mezmerizing to watch.

Summer Wheat Harvest

The palouse region of eastern Washington State is a beautiful area of rolling wheat fields.  At the end of summer I was driving through and photographed some wide landscapes of the harvest in process.

Roadside Cafe

I am often driving on long roadtrips.  Sometimes I'm heading to or from photoshots, and sometimes I'm just out to find some amazing things to explore and photograph.  On a recent trip from Chicago to New York, I stopped at the Roadside Cafe and Creamery outside of Falls Creek, Pennsylvania.  There were so many fun things to see and shoot here.  If I had more time I would have stayed to play a round of miniature golf, or played with a small herd of goats.  Time being a factor as it often is, I only stayed for a half an hour or so, but that was plenty of time to see some amazing pieces of roadside kitsch.  Enjoy.

Gloomy Day on the Lake

I recently went exploring around my new city of Chicago.  It was an overcast gloomy day but there was some texture in the sky.  I stopped by a little boat launch area into Lake Michigan and was really struck by the way the grey sky interacted with the surprisingly blue water.

CDC Quit Smoking

I am so excited to share these images I shot for Golin Harris and the CDC for their quitting smoking campaign.  The campaign featured portraits and interviews with former smokers and non-smokers who have been affected by second hand smoke.  I was never a smoker myself, but meeting all of these people and hearing their stories made me that much more adamantly anti-smoking.  I have urged and continue to urge all my friends and family (anyone for that matter) who still smoke to please quit.

Here is a little bit about each of the people I photographed.

-Bill mixed smoking with diabetes and was forced to have his leg amputated.
-Jameson developed asthma triggered by second hand smoke at the age of 16.
-Michael was diagnosed with COPD at age 44.  He had to have part of his lungs removed.
-Nathan worked in a casino for years and developed severe asthma caused by the second hand smoke.
-Terrie was diagnosed with oral and throat cancer at age 40 and had her larynx removed.

Each of these individuals has a harrowing story about what smoking and cigarette smoke has done to alter their lives forever.  Please visit the CDC website to read more about each of their stories, as well as several others.